Archive for February, 2012

I volunteer for a Christian college here in Phoenix now named Arizona Christian University. We used to park our RV on the campus property along with other volunteers. Here is a picture of our rig with some other RVers that were also volutnerring on the campus a few years ago. There were a lot of this year.

Last year the college made some new plans for that area and asked the volunteers to move off campus.

There was also a cactus garden on one end of the area. You may remember I wrote about moving these cacti last spring to another are of the campus. Here is what it looked like before.

Now all of that is gone except the palm tree and a large mesquite bush. And the college built a beautiful baseball field where we used to park. It was constructed in a few short months and just finished last week. The first game was a celebration and much fun! Everyone was in a festive spirit!

Here are some shots of the new field with a game in progress.

Our team in the dugout and they won the game too!

GOOD FRIENDS

We had some good friends who also happen to be supporters in town and they love baseball and so we all got to go to the first game. That was very special.

Mike and Daylene and Daylene’s mom Edna have come to see us a few times. We always enjoy them and we laugh so much together. This time was no different. We seem to find the simplest things funny!

They travel in their RV with 4 Shih Tzus. Here three of them are waiting for their evening treat. They sure are cute and we enjoy them as well as their family does.

I do hope you having a good winter. It feels funny to talk of baseball in February, right? Well many professional teams come here for spring training. So if you come here for to see one their games come and see us too. It is nice to have the sunshine.

Kent and I have been in Denver this past week where WorldVenture has its International Headquarters. We were there for the Renewal conference. This conference is for missionaries on furlough to come for a time of spiritual and physical refreshment. The staff also were there. So we got to come this year. The conference always starts out with 2 days of prayer. We pray for all parts of the world, for others and over others…It was two tremendously encouraging days. Then we start with workshops to encourage our missionaries in various ways from talking about churches in America to helping them deal with families in crisis. Also the president gets to share and the other staff too.

On Wednesday at lunch many missionaries were honored. There were 10 missionaries retiring and they got to share. We also honored those that had years of service. so there were people honored that served from 1 year to 42 years. It was so neat to see them fill the room as they all stood together. Kent and I felt privileged to meet them.

We got to eat with them and get to know their ministries and hearts. I even helped care for a 6 month old little girl so her parents were be able to listen and not be as distracted. She was so young that she didn’t go to the child care that is provided for older children.

What a very special time this is! We always come away even more excited about our mission WorldVenture and also thankful that God has allowed us to serve Him! And also grateful to meet these wonderful servants of the Lord. This is only our 3rd time at one of these conferences but I think you can sense how special the time was.
Sorry I took no pictures as it seemed a bit intrusive to how God was working in lives here.

AND then on Thursday we started hearing about a big snow storm to hit Denver on Friday. all the missionaries and staff were told to make the plans to leave if you had to get somewhere and many people did leave early.

Kent and I are staying until Sunday to spend some more time with Kara and Nick so didn’t change our plans. BUT it was so nice that Kara had off school and Nick too is off work. So we all got to sleep in and do some computer work.

We also got out in it after several hours revealed it wasn’t going to stop. The streets had been plowed and so we went to a store and a friend’s house for a few hours then home again.

Kara and Libbey have been friends since they were teens. We met she and her husband Gabe when we first moved to Kansas City, MO many years ago. They live nearby but we haven’t seen them for several years. Their baby is due in April. So it was neat to see them again.

It is still snowing and now it is almost 2 days. We measured the snow on Kara and Nick’s deck yesterday at 13 inches…then Nick cleared it off.

Last night I took this of our rental car…No going anywhere with this until we clean it off.

Now we have another 10 inches out there. So this is definitely been a pretty big snow fall. We are still enjoying it though. We are trying to decide how to spend this day.

I do pray that you are safe, warm and enjoying your day too. I am! I really do love the SNOW and spending extra time with our kids! What a special treat!